The Crisis of the Armenian and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchates in Istanbul and New Concessions for Armenians (1890-1891)

One of the most important debates on the Armenian and Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of the Abdulhamid II era were issues related to the implementation of the regulations of both nations. The Greek Millet Regulation dated 1862 and the Armenian Millet Regulation of 1863 determined the administrative rules and responsibilities of both religious groups regarding the state. Abdulhamid II, interpreting some provisions of the above-mentioned regulations as intervention to state’s rights, opposed the implementation of certain substances and appealed the removal of these. In contrast, both patriarchates tended to interpret this action as an aggression against their once acquired rights. Demands and complaints of the Patriarchates were not limited to this. They demanded the insertion of new substances regarding some spiritual matters, which do not exist in the regulations and the expansion of spiritual privileges. These discussions had led to a severe crisis in the capital in early 1890. Resignation of both patriarchs deepened the crisis. Sultan Abdulhamid did not accept the resignations and established a commission to examine the demands of the patriarchates. The commission was to examine functioning of the existing regulations as well as the new the contents of the new subjects. The results of the Commission s work was the acceptance of some new spiritual / political concessions regarding all non-Muslims by the government. In this paper, both the demands of the patriarchates and content of the new spiritual / political concessions will be discussed